What’s next?

We got onto Newsweek this week, which explains why Spokeo is slower than normal. We’ve also received a lot more user feedback (and yes, I do reply to all of them within 24 hours). In our next release, we will address the following issues that many have raised so far.

Easier Search

Right now finding friends is not super intuitive. You have to press the "+" button in the bottom left corner, and there are too many hidden options. We are redoing the design to further simplify the search process. This revamp is actually not as simple as copying Google; after all, Spokeo search is done in "real time," which requires us to design an unique search process.

In our next release, we will emphasize people search by putting it prominently on the top. This new usage paradigm should help you connect with friends more easily and efficiently.

Privacy Control

If you create a private blog post or a private photo album, Spokeo will reflect that privacy setting. We currently don’t allow these privacy settings to be changed within Spokeo since it is only a reader.

Search engines have never allowed users to modify search results. While Spokeo can take a similar hardline stance, we do recognize that people want more control over their content. So far I haven’t received any user requests for central privacy controls, however, we will take a proactive step to tackle that problem and better educate users about their online privacy.

We have a lot more feature requests that we haven’t even started fulfilling. Why are we so slow? Well, we only have 5 guys here, and we are running on our own money. We definitely don’t have the resources of other VC-funded Web 2.0 companies, but we do have the heart and passion to keep innovating. Just wait and see more cool stuff from us in the coming months